Instinctual Hanyou
by Chelty-chan and YeahWhatever12
Summary: In which Kyuubi is 'released' and Naruto's a Hanyou. "As of today, Uzumaki Naruto has been declared a missing-nin. He is your target. Your mission: to find and bring him back alive by any means possible." When Tsunade assigned Team 8 the mission, nothing could have prepared Hinata (or Konoha) for what followed. For FeralNaru/Hina challenge. AU from Pein's deafeat onwards. NARUHINA.


_**So…this is my attempt at taking on a multi-chapter challenge. **_**Chewiecookies**_**'s 'The FeralNaru/Hina Challenge'. For details of the challenge (and to avoid a long A/N) please visit **_**Chewiecookies**_** profile. it will make more sense that way.**_

**Rated M for**_**: Violence, possible character death (still considering, not sure on that yet), and an *ahem* affectionate Naruto. No harem. Pure NaruHina.**_

**Hanyou: **_half-demon_

**Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own anything, just some of the plot.**

**Warnings: **_The first part of the chapter is more violent than I usually write. so…yeah. Brace yourselves. It's not so bad though. angst (sorta). This is a tester chapter. The main plot of the story to be revealed next chapter. _

* * *

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

* * *

Nothing.

He was aware of absolutely nothing.

There was nothing but darkness.

It took a moment for Naruto to realize that the reason for this was the fact that his eyes were closed. With more effort than it should have taken, they slowly fluttered open, only for him to shut them when his nerves were all but seared by a blazing white light.

His head swam, and a sharp ringing sound assaulted his ears. The air around him was heavy with the metallic coppery scent that was human blood. Leaning forward sharply, he retched, emptying his stomach's contents until all that came up was bile.

"…anzo-sama, it's …onscious…again…"

Through the dizzy haze, he heard snippets of words, spoken by strange voices he'd never heard before, and he was only vaguely aware of someone roughly yanking him back upright by his collar. He coughed, immediately wincing at how raw his throat felt, like he'd been screaming too hard, for too long.

"..ive..inutes…nothi…yet…"

After one last painful cough, Naruto gasped, forcing air into his lungs.

_Kami, it hurt to breathe. _

It hurt _everywhere_. His entire body felt like it had been through a power grinder.

A quick assessment and he knew; he had more than a few broken bones, and he had a bleeding wound somewhere on top of his head - if the blood trickling down his forehead was any indication. He winced – one of his ribs had snapped and was scratching at his lung.

_So, that's why I'm having difficulty breathing. _Naruto tensed, ceasing all movement. If he kept jostling, the snapped bone could puncture his lung.

Surviving so many attacks from the villagers as a child, he had taught him to be self-sufficient in diagnosing and treating his injuries afterwards.

Realizing the extent of his injuries, he resisted the urge to panic. Inhaling deeply, he forced himself to remain calm, he needed to clear his foggy brain and think, figure out where he was and who had captured him.

If it was Shinobi from another village hoping to get secrets out of him, he had to escape and report the threat to Konoha back to Tsunade as soon as possib-

"…will snap…oon, and then…yuubi will…mine…"

_That voice. _Naruto froze, train of thought cut short at the familiarity of the deep rumble. _Where have I heard it before?_

Straining through the hazy fog still hanging around his head, Naruto tried desperately to hear the voice again to see if he could identify it, or if he was lucky, hear a name mentioned. But no luck, the words still only came through in bits and pieces.

He briefly considered the possibility that he'd been drugged…or worse, poisoned. All things considered, who knew how long he'd been detained and tortured, given the state his body was in. He had no idea how long it had been and there was no way he could tell when they'd start torturing him again.

He had to think of something fas-

There was a zinging sound, and his eyes shot open as he felt a surge go through him, much like an electric shock. All coherent thought zipped out of his head, and he clenched his teeth at the strange sensation. It wasn't painful, or maybe it was so painful his brain couldn't comprehend just how much. It was probably the latter. Either way, he had a strange feeling, as though someone were pulling at his navel, trying to get at something inside in him.

Just as quickly as it started, it was gone.

Naruto blinked rapidly, feeling somehow different than he had before the zap. He shook his head dazedly, trying to figure out just what had been done to him.

He could hear clearly now. And he could see. But that wasn't it, he felt like…like something was missing. It was like that feeling you get when you have the flu, and a stuffy nose suddenly opens up and you can breathe through it again.

"The last seal …has been unlocked…Danzou-sama." A gruff voice nearby, panted.

Naruto tensed, eyes widening, as he was suddenly aware of a man towering menacingly above him.

He was old, the wrinkles on his face suggesting he was probably in his early seventies, judging by the cane he was leaning on. One of his arms was in a sling, and he had bandages wound around his head to cover one of his eyes.

Naruto squinted, straining his eyes. He knew this man. He'd seen him before, somewhere.

Thinking back to about a month prior, he remembered barging into Tsunade's office to demand for a mission assignment, bored to death after the completion of the renovation of the village. He had interrupted a meeting -or more appropriate- an argument.

Something about the rightful Hokage-

"It took five days. Five grueling days, but it's done." Danzou spoke, his gruff venom-laden voice slicing through Naruto's thoughts.

_Danzou. This man_, Naruto shivered unconsciously, _is dangerous_. Didn't take a genius to figure that one out, the dangerous aura was just radiating off the old man.

"So, even the legendary Yondaime's seal wasn't perfect." The henchman (ANBU, ROOT, he guessed from the attire) from before jeered. "I can't believe we actually managed to remove it in just five days."

Naruto's eyes widened. _They…removed the…seal?_

"But, the boy is still alive." Danzou shook his head. "I expected the removal of the seal alone would kill him. But it looks like **_he_ **planned ahead for that. Testament to the ingenuity of the famous Yellow Flash. Not that it's of importance, either way."

Naruto stiffened when Danzou unwound the bandage around his head to reveal a lazily spinning Sharingan eye.

_What the hell…? The Sharingan!_ The blonde's eyes couldn't possibly widen any further. _Where the hell did he get that from?!_

Forehead creasing in concentration, Danzou used the Sharingan to examine Naruto's now bare abdomen, as if seeing through his skin -which he was- to discern if it was some sort of trick or illusion.

"Mhm. The seal _is_ most certainly gone, the increased chakra flow in his pathways indicates that. Now, all we have to do is make him lose consciousness, and the Kyuubi will be released. You," he pointed at one of his henchmen. "Knock him out."

_Release…the Kyuubi?_ Naruto's pupils dilated in fear.

There was no way they could do that. The thing couldn't be controlled. It would destroy them all- It would destroy everything! What the hell was Danzou thinking? Didn't he realize that?!

Naruto knew he had to move, do something-anything. But he couldn't, paralyzed, both by fear and the physical state he was in.

"I win…" Danzou's face twisted in a near manic grimace that could have been a triumphant smirk, were he anyone else, "…_Minato_."

Naruto opened his mouth to cry out, but an ANBU struck the base of his neck…and then everything was dark again.

* * *

X-X-x-x-X-x-x-X-X

* * *

**10 DAYS LATER.**

Tsunade slowly assessed the three teenagers standing at attention in front of her, silently awaiting instructions for their next mission assignment. She popped her knuckles absently as she studied them one by one, wondering for the umpteenth time if she was making the right decision.

There were other options after all, she could send anyone else - ANBU platoons, independent Jounins, and so on. So many other teams she could send on this mission, and yet…

Exhaling lightly, her eyes dropped to the mission file that lay open on the desk in front of her, and against her will, they scanned the paper to re-read the information that was now permanently ingrained in her brain.

**Retrieval Mission**

**Target**_: Uzumaki Naruto_

**Sex**_: Male_

**Age**_: 18_

**Affiliation**_: The Village Hidden In The Leaves_

**Shinobi Registration Number**: 01267

**Shinobi Rank**_: Genin_

**Status**_: Missing Nin_

**Last seen**_: Fire country, Village Hidden in the Leaves_

In all the years she'd known the blonde, Tsunade never once thought that the day would come when she'd have to announce his status as a missing Nin, and yet, only an hour prior she'd had to file the information.

The official seal probably hadn't even dried yet on the parchment.

She sighed and her eyes rose again to look at each face in front of her.

Aburame Shino. He looked the same as always, still the only thing visible of his face being his goggles, and just a tiny sliver of skin above his nose, the rest being covered by his signature hood and high collar. Absolutely nothing to help deduce his mood, as usual.

She moved on to Inuzuka Kiba, who stood in the middle. Tsunade wasn't fooled by the cool demeanor the boy was exuding; she knew he could be just as -_**if not more**_- hot-headed as Naruto in battle, although she could admit he had at least matured over the years.

And lastly, she studied the only female member of the team, Hyuuga Hinata. The girl had come a long way, she mused. Now at seventeen-going on-eighteen, she stood only a few inches shorter than her male counterparts, and Tsunade could note that the once demure girl held a more sure air of confidence about herself these days, standing with her spine straight, and only twitching uncomfortably two or three times as her eyes inspected her.

But then again, it was no secret to her how said Hyuuga felt about a certain blue-eyed Jinchuriki, which brought her back to wondering if she was assigning the right team to the mission.

* * *

X-X-x-x-X-x-x-X-X

* * *

Team Kurenai decided to meet up at the local tempura shop for lunch the day after their debrief meeting with Tsunade, to go over their mission's details once more before their departure.

"I still say we don't need a Jounin supervisor for this mission," Kiba protested as he glared daggers at said Jounin supervisor. "We can handle it on our own."

"Kiba-kun," Hinata sighed wearily. "You heard what Hokage-sama said yesterday. We need him, remember?"

Normally, Hinata could ignore her teammate's annoying tendency to complain about being underestimated -knowing him so well- but this time, she simply was not in as patient a mood as usual, not surprising considering she hadn't slept a wink the previous night.

She'd tossed and she'd turned the entire night, yet sleep had eluded her, their de-brief meeting with the Hokage playing over and over in a continuous loop in her head. She winced as the memory played over again.

* * *

_x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

**Flashback**

"I am assigning your team a retrieval mission." Tsunade announced.

Hinata's eyebrows lifted in surprise. Given that her team comprised entirely of sensory ninja, it wasn't surprising to be assigned a track-and-find mission, what was surprising was being assigned a _**retrieval** _mission. Those were only assigned if a Shinobi -_**one of their own**_- went rogue. But who was it? She hadn't heard anything about anyone abandoning the village.

Hinata swallowed, a sense of unease settling in her gut.

"However, given the delicacy of this mission, I am still unsure if sending you three on it alone would be wise. As such, I am choosing to assign you a Jounin supervisor." The Hokage continued speaking as she retrieved another folder from a drawer, her brow furrowing as she browsed the list inside, until her eyes landed on the Jounin in question.

"A supervisor?" Kiba repeated, brow furrowing. "What do we need a supervisor for? You just said it's just a retrieval mission, right?"

When Tsunade nodded, Kiba went on before she could speak.

"The last time we went on a retrieval mission, we were just Genin and the mission leader was just a Chuunin, so what's so special about this one for it to be any different?" he asked, a tinge of defiance coating his voice.

Tsunade picked up the mission file's copies and motioned for them to come up and get a copy each. She waited until all three were back in line before she spoke, announcing it, much like one would rip off a band-aid.

"As of today, Uzumaki Naruto has been listed as a missing-nin." She paused, ignoring their surprise as the three flipped their files open to the first page. "_He_ is your target. _That_ is what makes this mission different. You are to find and bring him back alive by any means possible."

Hinata felt her body slowly stiffen as she took in the information. _**Naruto-kun…left the village?**_

"All the more reason then," Kiba insisted when he'd gotten over his initial surprise. "He probably just went after Uchiha again or something. It's just Naruto so we can just-"

"_**Kiba**_." Shino interrupted sharply.

Realizing his mistake at the subtle flare in Tsunade's nostrils, the Inuzuka shut his mouth.

"Just… _**what**_?" the Hokage drawled, daring the teen to finish the sentence.

Kiba swallowed but remained silent.

He winced when she swiftly stood, bringing her palms down on her desk with a resounding bang.

"Now is not the time for your stupid superiority complex!" She snapped, her eyes flashing. "Did you not hear what I just said? This mission is delicate, the safety of the entire village, the Fire country, hell, probably all the nations are in danger as we speak!"

"My apologies, Hokage-sama," Kiba apologized stiffly, head slightly bowed.

Tsunade inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times to calm herself, her hands coming up to massage her temples as she slowly sank back into her chair. For a second, weariness and worry for the missing boy was visible on her face. But then, she shook her head, professional mask back in place as she resumed speaking.

"As you all know, Naruto is the Nine Tails Jinchuriki, and because of that, he has been targeted by different people for equally differing reasons throughout his life. Some want the Nine Tails' power for themselves, others want to destroy it and others just want to destroy Naruto himself."

Tsunade picked another folder from the pile on her desk and removed a picture which she held up for them to see. "I am sure you all know who Shimura Danzou is?"

She lowered the photograph when the three teens nodded, knowing they were wondering what the ROOT ANBU leader had to do with the mission.

"Well, I had a meeting scheduled with him on Monday, but he never showed up."

Tsunade scowled at the memory. She still could not believe that even after so many years of her swearing in, the old bastard had still been going on about the title of Hokage being rightfully his.

"At first, I thought the old goat did it on purpose just to irk me, but when he still didn't show for the rest of the week, I sent one of my own ANBU to inquire as to why and he reported back to say that Danzou wasn't in their headquarters, and the whole place was deserted, not one Shinobi in sight."

Tsunade frowned darkly, folding her palms to rest her chin on as she continued speaking. "A further search of the entire place turned up a dead Danzou in one of ROOT's interrogation cells with a few ROOT ANBU - also dead."

Tsunade closed her eyes as she paused to let the information sink in.

"Normally, I wouldn't be telling three Chuunin something like this, as it is highly classified information, that is extremely confidential. No one but myself and my ANBU know of this, and it **_will_ **stay that way, am I understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Was the uniform response.

"Why then… a-are we being told?" Hinata asked quietly after a pause.

Tsunade met the girl's gaze, still debating whether or not to say.

Not telling them would put them at risk on the mission –should they choose to accept it– but then again, telling them would undoubtedly change their perception of the blond, most likely destroy whatever trust in him they had that he'd been slowly building since he was but a child.

Sighing in resignation, Tsunade dropped her palms on the tabletop. "I am telling you this because Naruto is responsible for Danzou's and his subordinates' deaths."

Two pairs of eyes widened at this – it was impossible to tell if Shino's were too, but the shock was definitely palpable.

"Inspection of the scene turned up evidence pointing to Naruto," Tsunade continued, recalling the information from the report she'd received. "The victims suffered wounds, among others, similar to the Rasengan, some slashes that appear to be Kunai-inflicted, and also…Danzou's body appears to have been hit by a Fuuton Rasenshuriken. And we all know that Naruto is the only Shinobi alive that can perform that jutsu."

Hinata swallowed, feeling a cold sweat pepper her skin as her thoughts ran wild. _**Naruto... did what?…Naruto was…It couldn't be…not possible…he'd never kill anyone like that in cold blood…he couldn't…**_

"H-he could have been… f-framed…" she blurted without thinking, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hinata could feel her hands trembling, her eyes skittering wildly back and forth. Somewhere in her jumbled mind, she registered the dead silence that had settled in the Hokage's office. It was so deafeningly quiet you could almost hear a pin drop.

She frowned when she realized why. Her teammates hadn't said anything yet. Why weren't they saying anything? Why weren't they defending Naruto? They couldn't possibly believe he would do such a thing, could they? Why wasn't-

"Hinata."

The young Hyuuga flinched at the sound of her name, her eyes flicking towards the direction the sound had come from. Her vision swam, and she blinked repeatedly to get the blur out of her eyes before slowly focusing on Tsunade when she realized that the Hokage had been the one to address her.

"Focus."

Hinata blinked a few more times, all the while willing her trembling hands to cease their shaking. "H-hai." She nodded.

"We already considered that possibility," Tsunade continued when she'd decided Hinata was composed enough to comprehend what she was saying.

As she spoke, Tsunade rose from her desk and turned to stare out the window overlooking the village.

"But we found traces of Naruto's and the Kyuubi's Chakra in the room. Keep in mind that for us to manage to find traces of his chakra when he was obviously long gone, indicates that he'd been releasing a lot of it. ROOT Headquarters' walls are lined with Chakra absorbers, so that is why we never noticed anything suspicious when all this was happening. It's actually why those bastards manage to do so much below the radar."

Tsunade shook her head, getting back to the subject matter.

"Also, slashes that appeared similar to claw scratches were found on the victims as well…and if that wasn't enough, we also found blood stains that did not belong to any of the victims. This blood I, personally confirmed to be Naruto's. And finally, with the pieces of evidence retrieved from the scene were pieces of Naruto's clothes."

Having finished explaining, she turned back to face the three teens.

"You understand now, the gravity of the situation?" She asked. "We do not know Naruto's whereabouts - we don't even know if he is still alive. Our guess is, Danzou probably had his ANBU ambush and capture Naruto and bring him back to their headquarters where they tried to mess with either his head or the Kyuubi's seal. I don't know when they got him, or how long they detained him for, but as seen from Sai, ROOT is known to rid its members of emotion, so it's a likely possibility that they messed with his head somehow. Danzou had, apparently, had his eye on Naruto for years. I don't know if it was because he wanted the Kyuubi's power or if he just wanted Naruto himself in ROOT."

The Hokage shook her head tiredly. "That aside, if they did as I suspect, mess with his head or seal, we can't be sure of what state Naruto is in right now, mental and physical."

Tsunade took her seat again. "I could have assigned ANBU to find him – and maybe I should have," she added, sending Hinata a pointed look.

Hinata flinched, and then slowly raised a hand to her face, and was horrified to find it damp. "M-my apologies, Hokage-sama," she stammered, as she hastily wiped at her face in mortification. Regardless of the situation, as a Shinobi to lose her composure like this, especially in front of the Hokage and her teammates was truly shameful.

"I j-just-"

Tsunade raised a hand to silence her and shook her head. "It's alright. It's a lot to take in, I know…" she exhaled. "As I was saying, I could have assigned ANBU to this mission, but I didn't."

"Why?" Kiba asked. "I mean…why assign us?"

Tsunade shook her head. "I think that in the condition he is in right now, sending ANBU after him would be a bad idea. From what we saw, the Kyuubi was almost freed from its seal, but not completely, because if it were, I'm pretty sure we'd all be dead and the village would be nothing but ash by now."

"ROOT headquarters is at the heart of the village," she continued. "For him to make his way from there till he was out of the village without harming anyone would mean he exercised restraint. The Nine Tails is said to be a bloodthirsty demon that revels in destruction, which leads me to believe Naruto is still somewhat in control of himself. But then again, the lack of his trail from the headquarters also shows that he could have used some kind of teleportation jutsu to leave the village – that would explain why the barrier sensor around the village didn't go off when he left. Then again, it could also mean he is still in the village somewhere."

"So…this is all based on speculation, then?" Shino asked, speaking for the first time. "You are not entirely sure what has become of Naruto, so you hesitate to send us on the mission. But then again, sending unfamiliar ANBU to drag him back to the village could easily be misunderstood by Naruto should he be in a delicate state of mind. He will assume that the village considers him a threat, and the ANBU were sent to either eliminate or lock him up, and that could very well snap whatever sliver of sanity he may still retain."

"Exactly." Tsunade sighed regrettably. "This could be very dangerous for you three, but then again, you aren't Shinobi for no reason. Being a team of well-coordinated sensory ninja that are on top of that, very familiar with their target, you three are the best choice for this mission and I have no doubts that you will find him…" she paused. "What I do doubt, however…is if you can handle _**what**_ you will find when you do."

The three remained silent, either flipping through the mission file, or just frowning in thought.

"Now as for your Jounin supervisor… Hmm, two Byakugan wielders could mean doubled efficiency…" Tsunade trailed off, and Kiba could have sworn she was smirking at him.

**End Flashback.**

_x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

* * *

A heavy silence had started to settle over the table, only to be broken by Neji's tiny almost inaudible sigh.

"Yeah, I remember," Kiba finally affirmed, "but why _him _of all people?" he sneered at the elder Hyuuga, eyes narrowed.

"What exactly is your problem with me, Inuzuka?" Neji asked calmly, as he set his chopsticks down, picking up a napkin instead to dab at his mouth.

Kiba's eye twitched. "I just don't like the idea of working under you, ordering me around, telling me what to do…"

Hinata dropped her own napkin on her plate, and then folded her hands in her lap as Kiba continued to mutter complaints under his breath. She knew the Inuzuka was only trying to lighten the mood; it was only unfortunate that it wasn't working.

"If Inuzuka is done being childish we should go over the mission's particulars now," Neji announced, opening his file on the table, now cleared and cleaned.

"Our mission is to find and retrieve Uzumaki Naruto," he read, pale eyes scanning the paper in front of him. "Says here; no one else is to be informed of his status as a missing-nin yet, to avoid clamor in the village. Only we, the Hokage, and her aid, Shizune, are aware that he's even missing."

That made sense, given the blonde was a Bijuu container.

Eyebrows pulling together, Neji continued reading down the paper. "He was last seen leaving the Academy after visiting Iruka Umino, at about half-past 9PM. That was over two weeks ago, and he has not been seen since."

Hinata's hands gripped the material of her pants as she listened, her face remaining passive, not wanting to seem weak in front of her cousin and teammates. Tsunade had allowed them the mission despite her feelings, and she wouldn't let the Hokage down by letting her emotions get the best of her.

Eyeing his cousin's stiff form from the corner of his eyes, Neji paused his reading, tapping his fingers on the table-top. That was true, he hadn't seen Naruto around the preceding week, but had figured the blonde was probably off training somewhere in secret again. He had never been more shocked in his life than when he heard that the blonde had been officially listed a missing-nin the day before. Knowing how unshakable the blonde's loyalty was to his village, he couldn't believe he'd just up and left.

"I think it's obvious that Uzumaki is no longer in the village, but we should still check just to make sure. We'll split the village in four quadrants. Shino, you'll take the east, Kiba, you'll take west, Hinata you search south and I'll take the north." Neji handed out communicators as he spoke. "If you do manage to find him, do not engage him in any fight whatsoever. You are only to inform the others and wait for backup. If you can, try to reason with him."

"I should _**try to reason**_ with _**that guy**_?" Kiba snorted.

"If we still don't find him by sundown," Neji continued, ignoring the Inuzuka, "we meet at the village gates and proceed to search the surrounding forests around the village walls."

* * *

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

* * *

As Neji had suspected, Naruto was nowhere to be found in the village, and as they had agreed, at sundown the four teenagers met at the village gates, backpacks packed and ready to go. They wordlessly set off in the direction of the east woods, and took to the trees. They moved swiftly in silence, hopping from branch to branch, all the while searching.

This continued until Neji signaled for them to stop. When all four had jumped down and stood in a circle, Neji squatted and rolled a map open at their feet.

"We are here," he started, pointing at a landmark on the map. "According to the autopsy reports I got from the Hokage, Danzou and his subordinates have been dead no more than 50 hours. That means Naruto has been moving in his injured condition little over two days, he can't have gotten too far. I am 98% certain he is somewhere in this area here. We'll split up here, and like in the village we'll divide and search the surrounding forests. We'll split the entire area here, here, here and here," he drew lines on the map as he spoke, straightening to look at them all when he finished. "The instructions I gave back in the village still apply. Use your communicator, and do not engage in combat. Does everyone know their area?"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it. Let's just go already." Kiba snapped impatiently, and then took off on Akamaru before Neji could berate him.

Shino nodded and went his own way, releasing his Kikaichou as he went, instructing the insects to seek out Naruto's chakra signature. After apologizing for Kiba's bitter attitude, Hinata took off for her own area, leaving Neji to search his.

* * *

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

* * *

Hinata's breath puffed in and out of her open mouth as she ran, hopping fluidly from one tree branch to the next, Byakugan activated, as she searched. She wasn't sure how long she'd been searching, but from the strain she was feeling in her cornea, she could tell she'd kept her Byakugan activated far too long.

She stopped on a branch, and leant against the thick trunk. She deactivated her Byakugan, her hands coming up to massage her temples. Squinting up at the moon, Hinata estimated the time to be around 3 AM, meaning she'd kept her Byakugan activated for close to 10 hours.

_**Not good. Definitely, not good.**_

She exhaled lightly, and lacing her fingers with chakra, she used what little she knew of Medical Ninjutsu to alleviate some of the discomfort her optical nerves were experiencing. When she'd done about as much as she could without sapping her Chakra, she dropped her arms, noting that while the discomfort was still there, it was bearable and she could ignore it now.

She crouched down on the branch she stood on and concentrating, she surveyed the area. She frowned when she saw nothing but trees and forest. No sign of anything yellow, orange or black that could tell her if Naruto had passed through the area.

Her communicator had been silent all night, which meant none of the guys had found anything either.

She swiftly stood before the worry could start to set in again, and pumped some chakra into her legs and leapt to the next branch, easily picking up speed again.

_**Where are you, Naruto-kun?** _She thought wildly, tears of frustration welling up as the familiar feeling of uselessness started gnawing at her insides.

He was somewhere out there, injured and in Kami-knows what mental state. Hinata's face set grimly at the thought.

**_Wait for me, Naruto-kun. _**She thought determinedly.

Resolve steeled, Hinata re-activated her Byakugan, and ignoring the discomfort, increased her speed.

Failure wasn't an option. She just _had_ to find him.

* * *

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

* * *

Kiba stood, leaning against a tree as he fought to catch his breath. Reaching into his backpack for his water bottle, he grabbed it and sipped earnestly, as he waited for Akamaru to come back, having sent the Nin dog out to survey the surrounding area while he caught his breath.

"Damn it, where the hell'd you run off to, Naruto, you idiot," he grumbled to himself as he pushed off the thick trunk. "When I find you I'm going to beat the crap out of-"

Kiba didn't finish his rant, as Akamaru came bounding back to his master, looking alarmed, a worried whine escaping him.

"What is it, boy?" Kiba asked pensively, the dog's anxiety hitting him square in the face. "Did you find him?"

Akamaru whimpered some more, and Kiba's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh, shit." He cursed under his breath and mounted his partner, who took off immediately. Holding on with one hand, Kiba quickly changed the frequency on his communicator. "Hinata! Hinata, can you hear me?! Come in!"

The only response he got was a wave of static, nothing else.

"Fuck." He growled under his breath and changed the frequency again to a general band. "Shino! Neji!" he yelled into the device.

"Kiba." Shino answered. "Did you find him?"

"Report," Neji's voice was calm, the whirring sound of wind rushing past the only thing giving away that he was running.

"We've got his scent! His chakra's so low we can't get a fixed reading on it, but we're locked onto his scent!"

"Where is he?" Neji asked.

"He's somewhere in Hinata's area! And she's not answering! Her communicator is offline!" Kiba grit his teeth when Akamaru picked up speed, his master's anxiousness fueling him. "Where are you guys?!"

"Too far." Shino answered first.

"You're nearer, Inuzuka." Neji's voice sounded a little strained, indicating that the Hyuuga had picked up his speed as well. "Move."

* * *

**X-x-X-x-X-x-X**

* * *

Hinata swallowed…or at least tried to swallow around the hand around her neck. She blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what had just happened.

One second, she was running across the forest floor, having tired of leaping across tree branches. And the next, something rock-solid had slammed into her from the side, and pinned her to a tree.

Wincing at the dull ache in the left side of her body where she'd struck the tree, Hinata mentally cursed when she heard the fizzing sound escaping her communicator, confirming that the device had shattered on impact.

Willing herself not to panic, she started to squirm when a warm liquid ran down the side of her face. She was bleeding.

Hinata forced her eyes open to try to make out just what had attacked and pinned her.

A low snarl from -whatever it was- ceased all squirming, and her eyes widened when they met narrowed blood-red slits.

_**Naruto…kun…**_ she thought weakly.

Her chest clenched at the sight of him. He was barely recognizable. And she couldn't bring herself to look at him properly to see just how bad his injuries were.

"N-Na..ruto..kun."

He didn't respond.

Her vision blurred and she choked, a hand coming up to weakly grip at the one around her neck.

* * *

_x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

* * *

Blazing Sharingan eyes watched as Naruto pinned the Hyuuga, their owner obscured by thick foliage, chakra signature completely smothered.

Completely undetectable.

His brow twitched when he sensed a familiar chakra signature approaching from the West.

_**Ah, the Inuzuka. Excellent. **_

His lips pulled back in a triumphant smirk.

_**Everything is going exactly as planned.**_

And with that thought, accompanied by a flurry of hand seals, Uchiha Sasuke disappeared in a Shushin Teleportation Jutsu, estimating that Kiba would be on the scene in no less than three minutes.

The girl - Hinata was it? She would survive... even if the Dobe couldn't manage to rein himself in.

* * *

**_x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x_**

* * *

**So as i said. tester. More info (and plot) later. The story will not focus entirely on Naruto and Hinata.**

**And to be clear, I'm working on the premise that without Minato's seal, the Kyuubi could easily take over if Naruto lost consciousness, like the way Shukaku was with Gaara.**


End file.
